Winning the ball off the target man

It’s the last five minutes of a crunch game and you're winning 1-0. The opposing team starts to hit long balls to their big number nine and your centre backs are struggling to cope.

Time to shut up shop and hang on for dear life, right? Wrong, says Norwich City gaffer Chris Hughton.

More after the break

There are certain measures you can take to ensure that the opposing team doesn’t have the space to create chances. If your centre backs drop deep then it enables their striker to push forward and stretch the game.

Get your centre backs to press forward, forcing the full-backs and central midfield players to do the same.

In this video, Hughton tells us why keeping a high line and having a positive reaction is all you need to defend against a long ball team.